Sanctuary to build new church, community center near Fort Morgan

ByJENNI GRUBBS Times Staff Writer

Posted:
01/24/2013 03:34:02 PM MST

Gary Meadows is the pastor of The Sanctuary ministry in Fort Morgan and Morgan County. The ministry plans to construct a new church building where Meadows is standing, next to the existing ministry building on the church campus at 14587 U.S. Highway 34 and extending out into the lawn in front of him.

After selling its former downtown building, The Sanctuary ministry is truly in a rebuilding period.

Currently, the church is consolidated at its offices at 14587 U.S. Highway 34 west of Fort Morgan and is holding Sunday services at the nearby Clarion Inn.

But The Sanctuary is hoping to live up to its name soon with its next steps, which include physically building its new home to be a comforting, welcoming place for the community, according to Pastor Gary Meadows.

"That's been the church's vision for a long time, that whatever's done, the community could use it," he said.

Construction on a new church and community center building is set to start May 1, he said.

"We're rebuilding right now, as far as outreach and activities," Meadows said.

This sign marks the driveway entrance into The Sanctuary ministry's campus west of Fort Morgan at 14587 U.S. Highway 34. The ministry recently sold its former building in Fort Morgan and plans to construct a new church building on its land north of here. Until then, Sunday service is being held at 10 a.m. at the Clarion Inn.

And while it would "always" be nice to bump those number up, "we never set out to build a big church for numbers. I just take care of the people who show up."

Before coming to The Sanctuary two years ago, Meadows was a pastor in Stoneham for 13 1/2 years.

He came to Fort Morgan when called to do so by longtime Sanctuary Pastor Ben Baughman, whose wife had lost her battle with pancreatic cancer.

But the plans for a new home for the church were in the works long before Meadows came.

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The land that was called The Sanctuary's West Campus was purchased about 10 years ago.

The church's main office is there, as are somewhat small facilities for community gatherings and meals, such as funeral or wedding receptions, and an outdoor amphitheater -- all available on a donation-only basis.

"Whatever folks want to give" was what the church received for use of the facilities, Meadows said.

The Sanctuary ministry plans to build a new church building this spring at its campus, shown here, west of Fort Morgan and just north of U.S. Highway 34. The building will include room for community gatherings or events for up to 300 people, a gymnasium, a kitchen, restrooms, a nursery and the main church sanctuary.

Over the years, there have been training sessions for health care workers and law enforcement agencies and other events held at the church campus, and this is something The Sanctuary wants to continue with the new facility.

The congregation chose to sell the downtown church building at 330 State St. that had been its home so that the funds would be available to build something new at the campus that would allow this vision to happen. The sale was completed Dec. 27, 2012.

"With the sale of the downtown property" and then the income from the augmentation pond at the West Campus property "we were able to get out of debt and have enough to get the new building usable," Meadows said.

One of the current amenities at The Sanctuary's main campus west of Fort Morgan is this amphitheater. The new building the ministry plans to construct this spring will add a church sanctuary, a community room and gymnasium, a kitchen, restrooms, a nursery and more to the ministry's campus.

About seven years ago, a large hole on the land was turned into an augmentation pond, Meadows said. The Colorado Department of Transportation had created the hole many years ago by using dirt from the land to build nearby Interstate 76.

He called the downtown building's sale bittersweet -- at least for him, if not for his whole congregation.

"It was such a beautiful building and was 100 years old," he said. "For me, it was the grandest, most beautiful building I've ever ministered in."

But he knew that was the plan when he started with the church.

"The decision was made four to five years ago," he said. "For the folks I've talked to, it was a pretty easy exit. They were prepared to leave that and see what the future holds."

And the vision for the church's future is one that has been evolving for quite some time, he said.

Years ago, the congregation and its pastor had "really big visions of soccer fields and baseball diamonds" at the campus, "but water shut that down," Meadows said, as the land's water rights were sold off because they could only be used for agriculture, not for recreational or residential purposes.

Now, the plan is for a large building that would house a sanctuary for the church, a spacious community room and gym for gatherings and events, kitchen and restroom facilities and a nursery -- all things that would benefit the greater Fort Morgan and Morgan County community, Meadows said.

He said that he and his congregation had envisioned everything from the church services to training and board meetings, as well as religious retreats, performing arts shows, youth events, funeral dinners, wedding receptions and lots more being held at the new Sanctuary building.

Costs, volunteers

The good news is that The Sanctuary has what it needs to make that happen.

"We have enough probably to erect the building, get it weathered in and usable," Meadows said.

The building will be constructed of steel and wood framing just to the west of the existing building.

The cost to erect the new building was estimated at $400,000 to "get it usable," Meadows said, but the total cost to get it completely finished likely would cost $800,000 to $1 million on the open market.

However, the final cost will not be that much for The Sanctuary.

Church member Larry Hall of Hallmark Builders is volunteering to design and serve as the general contractor for the building project.

And more savings will come from a group of volunteer tradesmen who will travel to Fort Morgan and labor on the project for free.

The volunteers are from U.S. Mission America Placement Service (MAPS), an organization within the Assemblies of God Church made up of former construction workers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers who "go around the country donating their services to church projects," Meadows said.

"It's no small volunteer thing there," he said, explaining that the eight to 10 volunteers would show up with RV's and do the labor for $1 per hour per person. Those wages then go back into funding the group's ministry.

"With the labor donated, price goes way down," Meadows said. "They do this as ministry, so they get to travel and do good work besides."

Part of the U.S. MAPS volunteers coming was providing the RV sites they will need, "so that'll be the first thing done," he said. Those sites would then become a permanent part of the church campus and its amenities.

New building

Meadows said the plan for the new building was for a "big sanctuary" that would hold 300 seats or so.

"We're trying to fill a niche for larger funerals" and events, he said, adding that the sanctuary would not be limited to one faith denomination and would welcome people.

He said that the planned attached large community room and gym would "take out most of the yard" around the existing building, but that it would be worth it to be able to offer that space to the community.

"We've had folks come out here and do outdoor weddings," he said. "We're hoping this facility would augment that," offering more rooms for the wedding party to get ready, as well as a reception hall.

The gym would similarly be multi-purpose, with ceilings high enough for basketball games.

The kitchen facilities would be functional, if not commercial-grade, and there would be "plenty of bathrooms."

Closer to fruition

With a May 1 ground-breaking in sight, things are starting to get very real for Meadows, the handful of employees, the five-member board that oversees The Sanctuary and all of the church members.

"They're all faithful, and they've all sacrificed to get us here," Meadows said. "They gave a lot to get this farm and turn it into something usable."

With plans getting finalized and the money in hand, "now it's like the realization of a dream for the people who started this 10 years ago," Meadows said. "I kind of see that as my mission for them, to help develop this land."

And everyone involved is getting ready for that mission to come to fruition, he said. "There's a lot of excitement," Meadows said. "We've been over at the Clarion for (about three) weeks. They're ready and looking forward to a new chapter."